Watch the Media-Conspiracy TV Funhouse Segment SNL Banned in 1998

Marc Maron just Tweeted the link to this video, a Robert Smigel-written TV Funhouse segment in which the educational program Conspiracy Theory Rock presents a catchy little ditty called “Media-opoly.” The animation depicts the total control of the media by a few unregulated corporations – especially, yep, good old GE – who are also dumping nuclear waste directly onto playground woodchips. Big surprise, this clip was cut out from all but the first airing of its SNL episode. It’s interesting to think about how far we’ve come in the last decade and a half, though, with 30 Rock casting GE’s fictional parent company Sheinhardt Wigs as a monster-corp turning children orange. Could SNL do something like this today and get away with it?